Actions by Bid Cities Under Investigation

In a clear indication of how the stakes have been raised in the race to become the U.S. candidate to stage the 2012 Summer Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee is investigating possible rules violations involving both San Francisco and New York.

The USOC said Thursday it was reviewing allegations that e-mails sent by San Francisco bid supporters to some members of the USOC board of directors were inappropriate. It also is inquiring into comments made by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week while in Athens, Greece, site of the 2004 Games, as well as into a Sept. 6 meeting in New York City between Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and IOC member Anita DeFrantz of Los Angeles, who also serves on the USOC board.

USOC rules prohibit bid-related contact with board members as well as international promotion on behalf of a city.

Bloomberg told reporters Thursday, “We did nothing inappropriate.”

DeFrantz and a spokeswoman for Clinton echoed that sentiment, as did Tony Winnicker, a spokesman for the San Francisco 2012 bid, who said, “We are making every effort to insure we follow the letter and the spirit of the rules.”

The USOC has summoned senior officials from both bids to its Colorado Springs, Colo., headquarters for a refresher course on the rules and to point out the obvious--in the wake of the corruption scandal tied to Salt Lake City’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games, the last thing any U.S. candidate needs in the international arena is to be dogged by a perception that it can’t play by the rules.

The USOC will choose between New York and San Francisco on Nov. 2. The International Olympic Committee will pick the 2012 site in 2005. Madrid, Paris, Moscow and other cities may also vie for the 2012 Games.

Last week, two Olympic athletes who live in Northern California but are not affiliated with the San Francisco bid committee exchanged e-mails with members of the USOC board. The e-mails made the rounds and were quickly routed to USOC compliance officials.

One of the e-mails concludes with a reminder that if San Francisco wins, its bid projects an allocation from a proposed surplus of $5 million to each of the 28 governing bodies that oversee Summer Games sports in the United States.

No rule could bar a city from projecting a significant surplus--San Francisco’s is $409 million--or from wanting to further the training of future U.S. Olympic athletes. And the $5 million proposal is not a last-second surprise; it’s included in San Francisco’s bid book.

Critics nonetheless suggested that the e-mail could have the effect of reducing the bid process to a straightforward equation involving cash and votes. A board member who had seen the e-mail described being “surprised and disturbed” by it.

On Sept. 19, Bloomberg, in Athens for an international mayors’ meeting, toured Olympic construction sites and said, “New York is the world’s most international city, and I can think of no city, save the birthplace of the modern Olympics, that is better suited to host the world games. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity.”

He also said he was “working to bring the 2012 Summer Olympics to New York.”

The next day, those comments were brought to the USOC’s attention.

On Thursday, Bloomberg told reporters in New York, “I did not take any New York paraphernalia to distribute. I did not try to promote the U.S. effort or New York City’s effort. We did nothing inappropriate.”

Meantime, DeFrantz rode with Clinton in the senator’s limousine on Sept. 6, the day Congress convened in Manhattan, later telling the New York Times, “It’s not a bad idea to have one of the senators from the state making the case for the city.”

DeFrantz said Thursday, “It’s nothing, and if they’d like, I’d be glad to call Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein,” the Democratic senior senator from California. “I knew her when she was [San Francisco] mayor.”

Karen Dunn, a spokeswoman for Sen. Clinton, said the senator spoke with DeFrantz at the request of a New York City official, adding, “We have not been apprised of any constraints on senators when it comes to promoting their states. We knew of nothing to prevent us from agreeing to the city’s request.”